Senate committee rejects SB 67 after debate over fiscal effects on campuses

The Senate Committee on Appropriations considered Senate Bill 67, heard questions about its fiscal impacts on public institutions and adopted amendment L3 intended to eliminate the fiscal note, then debated and voted on the amended bill.

Committee members raised concerns that even with L3 the bill could shift costs to higher-education institutions. Senator Liston asked for a new fiscal note to quantify costs to the University of Colorado Colorado Springs and Colorado State University. Senator Bridges and others said the committee packet and amendment language indicated L3 reduces the fiscal note to zero and that L5 would only delay implementation by a year.

After discussion, Senator Bridges moved SB 67 as amended. The clerk read a roll call and the chair announced, “That bill fails on a vote of 4 to 3.” The committee then completed a reverse roll call and recorded the disposition.

Because the transcript’s roll-call entries and the announced tally show an inconsistency (the clerk’s line-by-line roll call in the transcript appears to record a different per-member vote total than the chair’s announced 4–3 result), the committee record may require clarification from the clerk for a definitive per-member tally.

The committee moved on after placing the bill on the committee’s procedural disposition (recorded in the transcript as a reverse roll call).